Live and Let Die
by MySongStory
Summary: James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. A look at how that influenced Chuck as he entered into the spy world and how it changed as reality set in. COMPLETE!


**_A/N_**_: Ever notice how different a cover can be from the original. It's not just the arrangement, it's the mood, the attitude. Take Live And Let Die for example. The original done by Paul McCartney and Wings was the main theme song of the 1973 James Bond film of the same name. It's isn't just good — it's Beatles good. It feels good. The cover done by Guns 'N Roses' has a very different feel – it feels dangerous. That got me thinking about Bond (James Bond) and Chuck and – well – this happened. _

_I don't own Chuck or Live And Let Die, and neither do you. But you wish you did._

_(You know you did)  
(You know you did)  
(You know you did)_

**Live and Let Die**

_When you were young and your heart  
Was an open book  
You used to say live and let live_

James Bond movies were a staple once. Required watching.

They were fun, a fantasy version of the spy life. A place where the hero wore an Armani Tux that looked almost as good on him as the Bond girl on his arm. Where martinis were shaken and not stirred and the technology would make a nerd spiral in excitement.

Bond always won at the tables in Monte Carlo, always beat the bad guys and always got the girl.

Bond was smooth. Never phased, never a hair out of place.

He was a hero, someone to aspire to.

Chuck. Chuck aspired to be like him.

He was the inspiration for Charles Carmichael

Because Chuck wanted to be like him.

_(You know you did)  
(You know you did)  
(You know you did)_

Charles Carmichael became the hero in the fantasy spy world that Chuck built around himself. A persona he could use to pretend he was a hero.

It was easy, actually.

All the pieces were there. Everything

A woman so beautiful she outshone any Bond girl that ever was.

Or ever will be.

Technology that looked like it came straight out of Q's workshop.

A team that always beat the bad guys, no matter the odds.

Chuck even got to wear Armani tuxedos and go to a casino with Sarah on his arm. Oh yeah, and Sarah even said he looked good in Armani.

Not in so many words, but she did.

When Chuck announced he was "Carmichael. Charles Carmichael" in the worst Scottish accent ever attempted on the planet, it should not have come as a surprise that he expected – he fantasized that his spy life would be very Bond-like.

It wasn't.

_But if this ever changin' world  
In which we live in  
Makes you give in and cry  
Say live and let die_

Chuck would have known this if he had gone to the SIS website. The agency commonly known as MI6 warns recruits that _"James Bond, as Ian Fleming originally conceived him, was based on reality."_ and adds: _"But any author needs to inject a level of glamour and excitement beyond reality in order to sell. By the time the film makers focused on Bond, the gap between truth and fiction had already widened."_

The film makers do this so well, all you remember is the fiction.

Did you ever notice that you seldom see blood in a Bond movie?

That the hero could be beaten to a pulp and still pop up, good to go, in no time at all?

That even though the hero has a license to kill, nobody is really ever killed in cold blood. All deaths could be rationalized away.

At least that's what Chuck thought.

Until he didn't.

_Live and let die_

Until Mausser.

Until Chuck saw Sarah shoot that Fulcrum agent on Christmas Eve.

After they took over the Buy More.

When he asked her about it …. she lied.

What do you do when you see your girlfriend do something so horrific it gets permanently burned into your brain?

_What did it matter to ya  
When you got a job to do you got to do it well  
You got to give the other fella hell_

When confronted, she told Chuck "I have to protect you."

How many times has she said that.

"It's my job"

And Chuck, he knows she has to do that.

Protect him.

Protect his family, his friends.

She does her job well.

She was just doing her job.

But.

But the guy was unarmed and she just- - did what she had to?

Chuck should have understood a lot earlier. Casey actually laid it out for him when he told Chuck that he was the one that shot and killed Bryce. Chuck was still having trouble accepting the whole killing thing and asked him why.

"Why would you do that? Why did you kill Bryce?"

His one word reply should have told Chuck everything he needed to know.

"Orders"

"You get a chance to shoot Bryce Larkin, you shoot to kill."

When you've got a job to do, you've got to do it well.

So when Bryce turned up alive, Casey was more than a little incredulous.

"Didn't I kill him?"

To say Chuck's eyes were opened is an understatement. He had begun to see the cold, blunt truth.

You've got to give the other fella hell. It's part of the job.

Achmed Gambir, neck snapped by Casey

Emmett Milbarge shot in the eye by Javier Cruz.

Javier Cruz, a victim of Casy's minigun

Sydney Prince, shot in the back by Shaw.

_Looking back, that should have told Chuck everything he needed to know about Shaw._

Rafe Gruber, sniped by Casey.

All, just part of the job.

_You used to say live and let live  
(You know you did)  
(You know you did)  
(You know you did)_

But not for Chuck. He would find other ways to get the job done.

A tranq pistol. Taking prisoners. Talking the bad guys down.

He would do everything he could to do his job without taking a life.

He wasn't a killer. It wasn't part of his DNA. He would show them he could do the job – and do it well – without killing.

Until he couldn't.

_But if this ever changin' world  
In which we live in  
Makes you give in and cry_

Until Sarah slid the gun, carefully wrapped in a napkin, across the table to him. Until Sarah told him that he had to kill the mole.

If he didn't, he wouldn't be a spy.

If he wasn't a spy, he and Sarah couldn't be.

His orders were clear.

The decision was his. There was no turning back.

He couldn't do it. He tried to take Hunter Perry prisoner instead.

Perry could do it and Chuck didn't see him take the gun out of his ankle holster and aim it at him.

He couldn't do the job and it almost cost him his life.

He couldn't tell anyone that he didn't do the job and it almost cost him Sarah.

Turns out she didn't want him to do the job.

Either way, Chuck realized, he and Sarah wouldn't be.

Until they were.

It wasn't easy, but Chuck was able to prove to Sarah he wasn't just a spy, he was an extraordinary spy. He was a spy that had never killed.

Until he had to save Sarah. Until he had to kill Shaw.

Until he realized that for Sarah to live, Shaw would have to die.

And everything changed.

_Say live and let die_

James Bond movies were a staple once. Required watching. Not anymore.

Now, they gathered dust on the shelf.

Sarah is smart enough not to ask. She knows why. James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy.

Chuck is the real thing.

_Live and let die_

_Fini_

***"Live and Let Die"**_ – __released 1 June 1973 (UK) and 18 June 1973 (US) Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Produced by George Martin – It was the most successful Bond theme to that point, charting at No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The song became the first James Bond theme song to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song._

_"__**Live and Let Die**__" was released December 3, 1991 as the second single from Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I album and the fourth out of all the Use Your Illusion singles._

**_A/N_****_2_**_:_ _Just a little something to tide you over until the next one. In case you were interested, Rolling Stone ranks the Bond themes from Worst To First. Worst was The Man With the Golden Gun about which RS said, and I quote "the song snakes a porno guitar riff through a driving horn section that's doing everything in its power to distract from the words." _

_First was Shirley Bassey and Goldfinger (You were expecting someone else?) Live and Let die came in second. In between there is a hodgepodge of singers including A-Ha (not-kidding), Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Duran Duran, Tom Jones, Tina Turner and Carly Simon (Nobody Does it Better__** is**__ easily the winner of the lust-drunk anthems to a mythic lover like Bond – and just may be a future one shot)_

_Anyway, I hope you liked this. If you did – or didn't - let me know what you think!_


End file.
